A Culture, Which Can Improve Indonesia’s Economy

One of awaited music awards, MTV EMA 2013, EXO, Justin Bieber, and One Direction were the nominees of the best singer of the year which made a fan war on Twitter. This music award had EXO as the only band which came from Asia and discreetly made people aware about the existence of Korean Pop (K-Pop) that was spread through Twitter on the fan war. this particular phenomenon. The awareness of people for Korean pop, which happened because of the fans, creates a positive impact to the country of origin of K-POP, Republic of South Korea. One of the most immediate benefit is the opportunity for their economic to expand through entertainment industry and also they could attract tourist to visit the country of ginseng. So , what about Indonesia?

Those Korean artists produce great earnings which were obtained from album sales, concerts, commercials, and many more. One of Korean giant entertainment agencies, SM Entertainment, posted their revenues consisted of 270 billion won which was equivalent to 260 million USD. In 2013, the rising almost doubled than two years earlier; 140 million dollars. An Korean actor, G-Dragon, has an income of 64 billion Rupiah in 2012 but in 2013 ( 9 months later ), he could have an income until 332 billion Rupiah. Meanwhile, the top ten richest Indonesian actors in 2011 like Anjasmara, only had wealth until 20 billion Rupiah, followed after him were Tukul Arwana (15 billion Rupiah), Bunga Citra Lestari (12,7 billion Rupiah), and Titi Kamal (10 billion Rupiah). These data slightly shows that truthfully, the total income of top 10 artist in Indonesia is only half of the income generated by Korean actor, G-Dragon.

Korean wave (K-Pop) could become the best alternative for the country to introduce its culture, in terms of their tradition, culinary, Korean’s personality, and the last but not least, tourism. Jeju Island, Seoul, or Busan, have become an interesting place that tourists want to visit, especially Indonesian. In 2010, the number of tourists was only 281.785, in just Two years, the figure rose to 300.174. It also progressively increased to 303.856 people by the next year. This number brought Indonesia on the third rank country which comes to South Korea as tourists after the country of elephant, Thailand, and also our neighbor country, Malaysia. By attracting foreign tourists to come to South Korea, it will indirectly help them to exchange foreign revenue called Gingseng as we also often see some Korean drama showcases kimchi and kimbab as Korean’s special meal.

Same as South Korea, Indonesia has diverse culture as we have a lot cuisines and tourist places that can be introduced to the world through the entertainment industry. In other words, Indonesia is actually diverse in a lot of aspects which could attract foreigners. A little bit throwback, there was actually a successful movie created by Indonesian called 'Laskar Pelangi' which was taken at Belitung Island. After this movie was being a hit, it attracted the eyes of international interest as it also conducted a Hollywood movie called  'Eat, Pray, Love' to have their setting on the island of Bali.

Then, what do actually businessmen in Indonesia’s entertainment industry wait for? Indonesia economy could actually improve through the entertainment sector as what South Korea does. With some supports from various parties, the increase of Indonesia capital through entertainment industry can be realized.